Norse Atlantic Airways is cutting over half of its trans-Atlantic routes and leasing off half its 787s in a bid to stay alive in profitable markets.
Budget airlines have had a difficult time getting to profitability in the North Atlantic market, with such carriers as Norwegian, Wow, Play and others eventually abandoning the market despite early success at filling planes. And, in fact, Norse has been flying many routes nearly full, and still losing money.
The situation has sharpened lately, with fewer Europeans looking to travel to the U.S. in light of visa and immigration issues as well as increasing visa costs, while Americans have tended to prefer full-service airlines, which can often be almost as inexpensive when the add-ons that make up the money for the budget airlines are added in.
In Norse Atlantic’s case, they are dropping routes connecting New York to Berlin, Paris and Oslo; Los Angeles to Athens and Paris and Miami to London. Six of the airline’s 12 Dreamliners will be leased by early next year to India’s IndiGo, and Norse will shift its flying to routes from several European cities to Bangkok and Cape Town.
